Elena Punskaya

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however. Richard Bach, Illusions

Professional Experience

2013 – now Director of Innovation, establishing and leading the VASCO Innovation Labs in Cambridge.

2005 – 2013 Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Cronto Limited, the pioneer of visual transaction signing, acquired by VASCO Data Systems in 2013. Led the company and technology from inception to millions of customers. Realisation of the complex product set including mobile applications, consumer electronic devices and server-side software.

Prior to Cronto, Elena also led Statistical Research team in the life sciences startup and another Cambridge University spinout – BlueGnome (acquired by Illumina)

Previous Appointments

Originally trained in the field of applied mechanics, Elena gained an MPhil and PhD in Information Engineering from the University of Cambridge (St. John's College). She then held a Junior Research Fellowship and later a Fellowship at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and worked as Research Associate and, later, Senior Research Associate in the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge.